C-KReinventing

anything

DREAMING OF CREATINGA REVOLUTIONARY PRODUCT OR SERVICE?

All you need isTHE right method.

Discover the C-K method step-by-step!

What is C-K?C-K is a tool for thinking differently, to create new things.C-K can be used to rethink a product (e.g. a plane), a service (e.g. banking), a process (e.g. the manufacturing of car) or even an industry (e.g. transportation).

For whom and what for?C-K may apply on different levels of the company. It can be used:

- at strategy level to build an ambitious innovation programme and stay ahead of competition.- by a project leader to manage his project efficiently and make it more innovative- by an engineer to come up with innovative solutions

And even by start-ups to disrupt an industry or anticipate its next pivots.

Each of these C-K applications requires careful steering and advanced expertise.

With this booklet, you can experience the potential of C-K through a series of practical exercises, focusing on a simple example.

Concept KnowledgeKC This is where we will identify the knowledge needed to reinvent it.

This is where we will work on your product/service to reinvent it.

K-S

PACE

C-S

PACE

C-K: how does it work?C-K reconciles two approaches that have long been opposed, creativity and science.C-K works with two spaces, the Concept Space and the Knowledge Space.

Choose the product or service you want to reinvent and follow the guide!

What is this object used for?If you removed it, what would happen?What does that tell you about its value?“it avoids getting wet”

How is it used? When, how often and where is it used ?Who uses it?Why is it used this way?“it is used on a regular basis”

How is it marketed?Is it sold? Rented? Given for free? At what price? To whom? Where?“it is sold to the user”

What does it interact with?What factors/elements interact with it?Without what would it not work or make sense?“it is used for outside journeys” (if we did not need to travel outside, the umbrella would not exist)

If you work on a productHow does it work technically?What is it made of?What is the role of each component and how do they interact?“it is made of a standard waterproof canvas”

If you work on a serviceHow is the company organized to deliver the service?Who/what are the actors, equipment andinfrastructure involved?What is their role and how do they interact ?

Describe the product or serviceyou want to reinvent

1Take a sheet of paper and list your answers to the

following questions regarding your product/service.

(multiple answers possible)

Operating

InteractionBusiness model

Value

Use

Write on the left side of the sheet.

The umbrella will be our case study throughout this booklet.

C-S

PACE

KEEP IN MIND

This initial description is essential as it will impact the way you will disrupt you product or service. The aim is to cover all characteristics of your product/service: if one of these characteristic is discarded now, it will not then be challenged later on.

1

C-S

PACE

Represent your product or service with C-K

For the description of your product/service to be

actionable, follow the indicationsbelow and represent

it using C-K.

1.Selection

Select the most representative charactistic in each category, from your previous answers in Step 1.

avoids getting wet

for regular use

sold to the user

for outside journeys

made of a standard waterproof canvas

“it is used on a regular basis”

“it is sold to the user”

“it is used for outside journeys”

“it is made of a standard waterproof canvas”

“it avoids getting wet”

2.Representation

Rephrase your 5 characteristics in short sentences, and present them in separate boxes.

Interaction

Operating

Business model

Value

Use

C-S

PACE

Draw your C-K tree in the centre while living space to the right.

2

KEEP IN MIND

Represent your product/service in this format will help you challenge its characteristics one by one, in a systematic way. The more detailed the description of your product/service, the greater the chance of developing disruptive solutions.

2

C-S

PACE

1. What else?

For each characteristic, ask yourself “What if it were different?” and add the new concept, aligned to the right.

helps getting dry when wet

for single use

sold to the user

made of a standard waterproof canvas

Representing your product/service using C-K will

help you identify disruptive concepts to reinvent

your product/service. To get started, use the simple

mechanisms below.

C-S

PACE

2. With or without?

Find the opposite of eachcharacteristic and write it down next to it.

Generate disruptiveconcepts

3

ExampleWhat if it were not “sold”, but instead...?

ExampleWhat if there were no “canvas”?

avoids getting wet

for regular use

rented to the user

without outside journeys

sold to a third party

for outside journeys

without canvaswith an adaptable canvas

KEEP IN MIND

Every time you challenge a characteristic of your product/service, you generate a potential concept to reivent it.

3

C-S

PACE

K-S

PACE

To convert your concepts into concrete solutions, you

need to use new knowledge outside the sphere of your

product/service.

Explore your newconcepts

C-S

PACE

helps getting dry when wet

for single use

avoids getting wet

for regular use

sold to the user rented to the user

rented to a third party

without outside journeysfor outside journeys

made of a standard waterproof canvas

without canvas

with an adapt-able canvas

4K-space

To help identify concrete solutions, list products or services you know which share the same characteristics:Outside the world of the umbrella, what do I know that helps dry the user when wet?

hand dryer

transition glasses (that get darkwhen exposedto the sun)

dries the userafterwards

disposable

to the city for its citizens

to publictransport forits passengers

people don’ttransit anymore

people transit under covered walkway

teleworking covered walkways, tunnels

free newspaperspublic lavatories

disposable lenses

to the user’sneeds

to its environment (rain, wind...)

convertible cars

Draw the K-space to the far right.

KEEP IN MIND

Using knowledge from the current world of your product/service will only generate existing solutions.To create innovative solutions, you have to identify and use new knowledge, outside the world of your product/service.

4

K-S

PACE

1.Technologies neededWhat would enable people to transit under covered walkways? Canopies?Why not. But this would mean providing the busiest streets with ad hoc infrastructures: nothing really new here!

Let’s have a look at another option: using the existing infrastructure only.

We could imagine a GPS-type application, that would indicate to pedestrians the “itinerary with the least rain” highlighting covered walkways (storefront, shelters...). It would a “virtual umbrella” application!

To go further, we could look at Google Maps or Citymapper to understand how they design their maps in order to duplicate their approach.

2.Related business model

Let’s continue with this idea of the “virtual umbrella” app.

To deal with this aspect, we should first learn about the business models used by mobile applications like Waze (collaborative GPS). These applications use geolocated ads to market their services and provide them for free.

3.Benefits of the solution

Now let’s try to imagine at least one actor who would benefit from this solution (the user, the company, a third party, the environment...).

Example for the “virtual umbrella” app- Canopy retailers, who could target non-equipped shops more easily.- Shops owners, who have a strong interest in being on the “itinerary with the least rain”used by potential customers.

using an ad hoc infrastructure

using the existing infrastructure

by following the“least rain itinerary”

without outside journeysfor outside journeys

people don’ttransit anymore

people transit under covered walkways

ExampleSelected solution: « enables people to transit under covered walkways »

5Refine your solutions

You have enough solutions? Perfect, let’s move forward!

C-S

PACE

Take a moment to detail the benefits, technologies

needed and related business model of your solutions.

Try this with one or two solutions to practice first.

KEEP IN MIND

The solutions suggested here are supposedly very new and you will not necessarily have the adequate expertise to design them. It is thus imperative to identify and fill your current gaps in knowledge.Otherwise, you will systematically land back on traditional solutions.

5

C-S

PACE

6

1.On your mark...

List the major risks that may threaten the success of your product/service.

Example for the “virtual umbrella” app

Market risks- Pedestrians are not willing to change their itinerary according to the weather.- There are not enough users to market the ads and thus provide the app for free.

Technical risks- There are not enough covered walkways to draw an “itinerary with the least rain”.- The covered walkways are too difficult to identify/map.

2.Get set...

Select the most threatening risk:

Pedestrians are not willing to change their itinerary according to the weather.

This is the most important risk because if it were the case, there would be no point in building such an application!

3.Test!

How could we assess this risk quickly and at the lowest cost?

We could identify a popular itinerary used by pedestrians, and, on a rainy day, paint a line on the ground indicating the “least rain itinerary”...

… and then observe how many pedestrians effectively follow the line.

Test your solutionsAt this stage, it is very tempting to launch

the solution you chose... Not so fast!

K-S

PACE

Circle the solutions you want to test. For each of

them, identify the major risks of failure and think of

a cheap and fast test to evaluate them thoroughly.

KEEP IN MIND

At this stage, you do not have the sufficient knowledge to assess the potential of your solutions by yourself. You need to test them.The idea is to carry out cost effective experimentations to fill knowledge gaps quickly and thus identify the most promising solutions.

6

K-S

PACE

5

42REPRESENT YOUR PRODUCT/

SERVICE WITH C-KEXPLORE YOUR NEW CONCEPTS

REFINE YOURSOLUTIONS

K-S

PACE

helps getting dry when wet

for single use

avoids getting wet

for regular use

sold to the user rented to the user

sold to a third party

without outside journeys

for outside journeys

made of a standard waterproof canvas

without canvas

with an adapt-able canvas

dries the userafterwards

disposable

to cities for their citizens

to public transport for its passengers

people don’ttransit anymore

people transit under covered walkways

to the user’s needs

to its environment (rain, wind...)

1

Use

Business model

Interaction

Operating

Value

ESPA

CE CDESCRIBE THE PRODUCT /

SERVICE TO BE DISRUPTED

The “virtual umbrella” appTechnos? An application indicating the“itinerary with the least rain”Business model?Geolocated adsBenefits?For shop owners, for canopy retailers

Major riskPedestrians are not willing to change their itinerary according to the weather.TestA line painted on the ground indicating the “itinerary with the least rain” on a popular route.

6TEST YOUR SOLUTIONS

3GENERATE DISRUPTIVE

CONCEPTS

IN SHORT

Through this booklet, you experienced C-K and were given a taste of its potential.

Now you can practice on your internal projects, either alone or as a team, an become an innovator. If you want to use C-K to build your innovation strategy or to manage major projects in a large company, we recommend that you get help from an expert.

Thank you to the DTMI Chair team of Mines ParisTech, at the heart of C-K theory research.

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© Stim - September 2016 - C-K - Reinventing anything.This document is published under the Creative Commons license: it is available for free distribution, for non-commercial purposes, its content cannot be modified and its authors must be quoted.